«(Appeals – Officials – Grade A 1 post – Article 29(2) of the Staff Regulations – Notice of vacancy – Documents drawn up after the contested decision)»

1.. Officials – Recruitment – Procedures – Passage from the procedure under Article 29(1) of the Staff Regulations to the procedure under Article 29(2) of the Staff Regulations – Whether permissible – Discretion of the appointing authority to extend its options (Staff Regulations, Art. 29)

2.. Officials – Recruitment – Recruitment under Article 29(2) of the Staff Regulations – Content of the candidate's file – Production in defence before the Court of First Instance of documents certifying the qualifications of the candidate selected drawn up after the decision to appoint – Whether permissible

3.. Appeals – Pleas in law – Incorrect assessment of the facts – Inadmissible – Review by the Court of Justice of assessment of evidence – Excluded unless the sense of evidence has been distorted (Art. 225 EC; Statute of the Court of Justice, Art. 58)

4.. Officials – Actions – Pleas in law – Misuse of powers – Definition

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT (Second Chamber) 5 June 2003 (1)

((Appeals – Officials – Grade A 1 post – Article 29(2) of the Staff Regulations – Notice of vacancy – Documents drawn up after the contested decision))

In Case C-121/01 P,

appellant,

APPEAL against the judgment of the Court of First Instance of the European Communities (Fifth Chamber) of 16 January 2001 in Case T-97/99

the other party to the proceedings being:

THE COURT (Second Chamber),,

composed of: J.-P. Puissochet, President of the Sixth Chamber, acting for the President of the Second Chamber, V. Skouris and N. Colneric (Rapporteur), Judges,

Advocate General: L.A. Geelhoed,

having regard to the Report for the Hearing, after hearing oral argument from the parties at the hearing on 16 May 2002,

after hearing the Opinion of the Advocate General at the sitting on 19 September 2002,

gives the following

and then follow the procedure for competitions on the basis either of qualifications or of tests, or of both qualifications and tests. Annex III lays down the competition procedure....

The claims seeking annulment

The plea alleging failure to have regard to Article 29 of the Staff Regulations

The plea alleging failure to have regard to the principle of legality, the obligation to state reasons and the audi alteram partem rule

The pleas alleging failure to have regard to the obligation to state reasons and to the effects attaching to a notice of vacancy and breach of Articles 7 and 27 of the Staff Regulations and the principle of non-discrimination

The plea alleging failure to have regard to the concept of misuse of powers

The plea alleging breach of the principle of sound management and good administration and failure to observe the obligation to state reasons

The claims for damages

On those grounds,

THE COURT (Second Chamber)

hereby:

Puissochet

Skouris

Colneric

Delivered in open court in Luxembourg on 5 June 2003.

R. Grass

R. Schintgen

Registrar

President of the Second Chamber